


Hiding in the Shadows

by EmpathyfortheDevil



Category: The Hollow (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Boys In Love, Bullying, Drug Abuse, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Near Future, Sci-Fi Horror/ Suspense, Self-Harm, Self-Medication, Self-Mutilation, Slow Burn, at least on Kai's end
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-06-13 06:23:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15358200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmpathyfortheDevil/pseuds/EmpathyfortheDevil
Summary: Kai sees a glitch and has to get to the bottom of what's causing it. He'll do anything to get it done, even if it means his own body is at stake.





	1. Strange Moving Colors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kai sees a glitch and has to get to the bottom of what's causing it. He'll do anything to get it done, even if it means his own body is at stake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to probably be edited even after I post it, since I don't have any kind of beta. Also, if you see any strange full word typos, it's because I write on my phone. They'll slowly be fixed as I go along. That and I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I have a few unposted chapters, so if I get any readers, there won't be much of a wait. I'd love any constructive criticism. Also, I'd just like to mention this will mostly be Kai's point of view. It'll have some romance, but that won't be the main focus for most of the story. 
> 
> Still, I hope you like boys making out.

Kai saw it. That glitch. Vanessa's eye, that even though she was now giving him a dirty look, he couldn't stop glancing over every 30 seconds. The trophy in his hands, the glaring, flashing white lights of snapping cameras, even the happiness of his teammates. He normally would've been ecstatic. The fame and recognition, the envy of others that was the polar opposite of his real life, even just the triumph over adversity, and camaraderie of his teammates that would make any of his friends happy.

The cognitive dissonance was giving him a fucking migraine.

He figured it was just best to wait it out though. Try and rein in the urge to stare at Vanessa's eyes, and the nauseousness from the fact that at one point he had actually been attracted to someone who might not even be real. He had to get out of here first though, collect his thoughts, rally back around with Mira and Adam, and whatever he did, not to let it slip to anyone he couldn't trust to keep it to themselves about the glitches. That went double- no, quadruple for anyone connected in the slightest to the company that runs The Hollow. At the first whiff of suspicion on their part that he was having some kind of symptoms could very well end up with him locked up in a psych ward. Not to mention they would be after goddamn _blood_. Lawyers sicced on his family, until Kai broke down with no alternative -but- to submit to whatever testing they wanted.

 _ **First things first, though.**_ Kai needed a ride home with his mom and dad, and to get ready to go back to school on Monday. After this, he had a date with a silver mini-van. At least he had two days to rest.

Throughout the publicity shoots. The celebrations and excited talk about the _**next round of competition (which would happen over his cold dead body at this point)**_ , he could see the looks, the barely contained questions held back behind pursed lips, he was waiting for Adam to just say it, ‘Kai, what's wrong?’ For Mira to just let herself ask, ‘Kai, are you okay?’ But thank God, no one ever did.

After managing to postpone any celebrations with Adam and Mira until tomorrow, because he was in no mood to celebrate jack or shit, and swearing he saw Skeet's left eye shift into his now feared colorful distortion signaling another glitch, as the long-haired skater boy moped off the stage in defeat.

Tonight was gonna be a long night. As he walked into his room, observing strewn computer parts (next to, and on top of, schematics covered in his own sloppy handwriting), rock band and indie game posters, tech company stickers, and the thing he wanted most of all, but was also dreading laying down to rest on. A big comfy four-poster bed, made just aswell as the day he left to compete. Embarrassingly, but true, he only really made his bed, and cleaned his room, on the off chance that his mom might try and tidy it up, and possibly find a certain crusty sock he did his best to hide.

His back was killing him, he was exhausted, and he needed reassurance. So he grabbed his phone off his nightstand, then plopped down in his comfy, coushioned computer chair.

The first thing he did after getting comfortable was find Adam in his contacts list. He considered texting him, but right now, a few words in (what felt like a cold, unfeeling method.) A text exchange back and forth wasn't going to cut it. He needed to hear his friend's voice if he was going to get **any** sleep tonight.

  
_Ring...Ring...Ri_ \- ”Hello?”

“Adam! I've missed you so much!” Kai realized, in his current disheveled condition, he gave up much more about his current mental state than he meant to.

“Kai, are you okay?” As Kai predicted, Adam's voice was now laced with concern, and definitely sounded like the other boy was more alert.

“Y-yeah, why do you-what makes you think something's wr-ong?” _Smooth, Kai._ He somehow even managed to have his voice crack somewhere around the last two syllables.

“Kai, you're a terrible liar. You know that, right? It doesn't help that I've known you since like the 5th grade.” A thud could be heard over the line, the sound of Kai's skull hitting his computer desk, then a long, explosive sigh as he flopped down on his bed.

“I know. I...need you to promise you'll believe me.”

“Kai, what's gotten in-”

“Promise!” Kai unintentionally shouted into the microphone, Adam having to jerk his head away from the crackling mixture of Kai's desperation and static.

“I promise. Now _please_ , Kai, please, tell me what's going on. I'm freaked out as it is, but this whole suspense thing isn't helping.” It was Adam's turn to sigh, resigned to the fact he was stuck only knowing as much as the other teen was willing to tell him, and Kai could hear the squeaking of his friend's own mattress.

“Vanessa, I saw- she- her eye...was glitching. Adam, _**it was glitching.**_ ” He whispered the last three words, as if whatever caused it was hiding under his bed, in his closet, listening to him, a new boogeyman of his own. His eyes were covered by auburn hair thrown forward to look down, to look and squeeze his eyes shut as hard as he could, to try and hold back tears. All the while trying -and so far almost failing- to keep the sobs wanting to rock his body contained, accidentally letting loose a quiet whimper. This was much more frightening than he first realized.

“Kai, I know it was scary, but that stuff was probably built into the game from the beginning. There was probably never any actual corruption. I'm sure it was probably just something to up the ratings-”

“No! Not while we were in there. After we won, after I had a giant trophy in my hands...I saw it...I saw it...I saw it. . .,” it sounded like he was pleading on the other side of the line, but Adam just couldn't believe it. He wasn't sure how much he believed it. But he had to give his friend the benefit of the doubt here.

“Kai, it was probably just some post-game jitters though. We had just been through what we thought was a fight for our lives, you had just come back from thinking you could be dead. I think we should just think this through a little more before you go around claiming we might still be in a simulation.” Adam was speaking to him like he was a frightened rabbit, who needed to be coddled, lest he have another psychotic freak out. Adam knew he took medicine for an anxiety disorder, for depression, he never tried to hide that stuff from his friends, but he felt like he was throwing that back in his face. Not a good sign.

“You promised. You promised, you...you...y-you, asshole!” He didn't care anymore. He realized just how impossible this was going to be. Kai tossed his phone aside without even bothering to hang it up, and bawled his eyes out, he sobbed, and whimpered, until he managed to cry himself asleep.

Mira was dead tired by the time she got home, so tired she must not have even noticed that she left her phone unplugged. Not that she was exactly asleep, but she definitely wasn't awake either, floating in that strange place right before one entered the world of the dreaming, and left that of the waking. When her ringtone started playing, and the phone managed to dance a nicely melodic jig off her nightstand, all she could do was groan. “I swear to God, if this isn't an emergency, I'm going to rip someone's head off,” she muttered angrily.

“Hello?”

“Mira, something's wrong with Kai, and he's really scaring me.” That was certainly unexpected. He was acting a bit off after they had finally won that damn game, but Kai wasn't exactly the most brave person she'd ever known, and had just left a very intense lion’s den, to be thrown to a pack of wolves. Ugh. She should've known that winning would involve a media blitz, but she didn't realize how physically tired just playing a video game could make you. Still, Adam wasn't the worrier that Kai was, but he still sounded more frightened than she'd ever heard him before.

“What is it, Adam?,” she inquired.

“Well, he's not really making a ton of sense, but all he was saying was that Vanessa's eye glitched. I couldn't figure out why that even bothered him, since everything was glitching. But he was almost crying which I didn't get though, and begging me to believe him, but it's because he was saying her eyes...eye, whatever, glitched once we had already won. When I tried to calm him down, and kinda explain why he might've just _thought_ that happened. He freaked out and it sounded like from my end,” Adam absent mindedly ran a tired hand down his face and sighed, “that he, kinda just...cried himself to sleep.” Adam had a guilty tint to his voice, like he just admitted that his favorite pastime is punching orphans in the face, closely followed by making them watch while he dug up their parents graves. Mira wasn't really surprised at that part though, since those two had always been so close, if anything she had good money on the two finally just dating already sometime soon. Still, this problem, whatever it was, was delicate, mostly for Kai's sake, but Adam needed to avoid something to stoke the fire on his very prominent guilt complex.

“Look, Adam, you did what you could from the very limited resources you have right now. It sounds like Kai's asleep, I know we're both tired, and we'll actually get to see him in person tomorrow. So let's get some rest, because this sounds like a conversation we'll definitely need our wits about us for.” Mira hoped that that was as placating to him as she thought it would be. Adam had gotten suspended an amazing amount of times throughout the years, for showing bullies that liked to beat on Kai what it felt like when done to them. He was very protective of him, and thinking he hurt Kai on purpose by not listening to him when Kai was proposing a crazy idea, was just going to cause him to beat himself up over nothing.

“You're right...yeah, I'll call you before we see him tomorrow. I wanna work out a game plan, because I doubt he'll be feeling much better by tomorrow. Goodnight.” Mira agreed and said her farewells back, before her pillow promptly hit her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I have some readers, I'm sprucing up some premade chapters I wrote while waiting for my invitation to AO3, so stay tuned. I couldn't help but notice this awesome show had so few fics, so I'm trying to fix that. I forgot to mention, the next chapter is gonna be a long one, and it felt off to split it into two. So you guys will probably have to deal with a chapter twice as long as this one. I hope everyone considers that a good thing! I'd also like to mention I don't mind requests, so if there's anything that I can sneak into the story that you'd like to see, drop me a line in the comments.


	2. The Day After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's morning the day after Kai starts seeing the glitches, and the afternoon sorting it out. Kai's mad at Adam, Adam is sorry about breaking his promise, and Mira just wants to help the boys. They all learn that maybe Kai isn't a crazy as he seems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's gonna be a long one. Sorry if it's a bit boring, because it's mostly going to be a lot of dialogue with a lot of calm, quiet action. I can say that about a lot of the chapters though. If some intense action's what you're looking for don't worry, just stick with it. Finally, I'm really hoping to get some comments, or even a few kudos on this one. I worked hard, but I feel like I either wrote this poorly, or edited it to death (or not enough.) I'm willing to beg for constructive criticism. Any criticism really, even if it's just compliments. 
> 
> Also, I really enjoyed writing Kai's opening scene. 
> 
> I also would like to mention that I'm not just writing everything around with Kai's mental illness to fit the story, or be dramatic. I actually have Bipolar and Generalized Anxiety. So it's a bit autobiographical, but you know what they say, write what you know.
> 
> Oh, and I don't own the Breakfast Club. It's an actual diner, and I don't think it's actually a reference to the movie. Still, my only point was that the name isn't actual that silly (and that I don't want to get sued.)

In the morning, Adam found himself awake much earlier than he wanted. He laid there, the clock staring back, the light alerting him that it was 6:00 A.M.. He couldn't fall back asleep even if his body wanted him too. His mind was racing with thoughts about Kai. He thought about his stupid crush on him, his worries about how strangely the boy was acting, and finally how he felt that he had hurt Kai by not believing him. He wanted to believe him, even if it made things worse if it was true. He looked back to see that only thirty minutes had passed. It was going to be a long day, and he still hasn't even called Mira yet.

An hour or two earlier than Adam awoke, Kai had become tired of sleeping in hour long blocks, dreaming of distorted colors and broken screens. He had found himself lying on his roof on an old blanket, partaking in his particular affliction that he knew Adam hated. He took another deep breath, inhaling a cloud of smoke before it floated away. He let his mind drift, his eyes focused on the full moon that outshone the tiny light at the end of the cigarette between his lips.

He turned to look for his phone laying next to a crumpled pack of Camels and a plastic lighter with a psychedelic pattern on it (he had snatched it from his mother who had the same vice.) Inbetween thinking about how all this was happening, he snorted at how his mom probably thought her colorful lighter had _“good Earth energy,”_ his nostrils flaring, spewing smoke like an angry dragon. His phone showed 5:23, meaning he had been out here for almost an hour and a half. He just shut his eyes, sighing, and lit another cigarette.

Mira got a call earlier than she expected, but it wasn't much of a bother. She had always been an early riser, annoying both her friends when she arrived at school with a chipper attitude. Unsurprisingly, Adam's name was the one that flashed across the screen. “Good morning,” she answered with a lilt to her voice, inflicting her cruel and unusual punishment on him.

“God, how do you do this?,” he asked with an annoyed tone to his voice.

“Magic.”

“I hate you so much.”

“Oh quiet. You know you love me.” She could hear a chuckle on the other end of the line, happy that she could at least make him laugh while he worried.

“So...”

“So...”

“About Kai. I figured we could just invite him out to that restaurant he likes. Maybe take him for a walk in the park next to it. Kinda just depends on how he's doing after...the thing.” He wasn't quite sure what to call Kai's freakout. He was also hoping he didn't act as awkward as he was now when they met up with Kai.

“Yeah. That was going to be my recommendation too. I'm just wondering how we should discuss...the thing. We've gotta be nice, but firm. I'm not sure how it's going to go down though.” Okay, so maybe Adam wasn't being as awkward as he thought. Either that, or Mira was going to be just as bad he was.

“We'll just have to wing it, I guess,” Adam said, his joints popping as he stretched out, deciding to get up finally. “I'm going to call him and tell him what's going on. I also think maybe I should apologize, I didn't mean to hurt his feelings, this is just a bit strange for me.”

“What do you think of like eleven thirty-ish? Too early?”

“That sounds fine. I'll see you then.”

“Good luck,” Mira said, hanging up.

“Ugh. I'm gonna need it,” Adam quietly said to himself.

Kai forced his head side to side, feeling relief as the stiff vertebrae in his neck pop, slowly letting out a relieved sigh. He had accidentally caught a little over an hour of rest until the sun rose, and the morning dew lightly misted his clothing and blanket. He could feel the stiffness resting in his already tense shoulders, he was still glad it was a weekend, so that his parents didn't spot him on their way to work. _**That one**_ would be a bitch and a half to explain. He shoved his illicit items in his computer desk, since no one dug through his schematics, or his electric and mechanical parts. He also grabbed some clean clothes, picking out his shirt celebrating an old horror movie that was nice and soft, setting it all down on his bed. On his way to the shower, he grabbed a towel and waited for the water to heat up.

While he was waiting for the usual cloud of steam to form, he dug through the medicine cabinet and grabbed a bottle of Zoloft and one full of Valium. Swallowing the Zoloft by itself, he doubled up on Valium, chewing them and praying for them to work faster. Annoyed by the wait, he also took one of his Xanax that were “technically" for his occasional panic attacks, but he really needed to calm down _**before**_ he had one. When he finally felt his thoughts come to form coherent ideas, instead of intrusive little things he had no use for, he climbed into the shower. God, the relief from his own mind was _practically **orgasmic.**_

He felt a brief pang of guilt for abusing his medicine and taking advantage of his parents’ trust, but he pushed the feeling down as deep as he could ( _as usual._ ) He pushed, and pushed, and held the thought down until it drowned and fell away for now. Instead, he turned his mind to his day ahead. He knew Adam and Mira would not only want to go somewhere to celebrate, but would give him the third degree about his little **“episode”** last night. He had a good idea of where they wanted to go, he was just so tired. At the end of his shower he turned on the cold water and let it splash over him to help wake up, thankfully, he felt a bit better. Or at least more awake. 

He wrapped a towel around his waist after drying off, briefly he wished he had a lock on his door. His parents had taken it off when he had a bit of an...incident, one that involved him taking a whole bottle of pills. That was when he finally ended up getting diagnosed, and as he got better, his parents no longer hid pills from him. They had never quite recovered from that, wanting access to him at all times. When Adam and Mira found out, this being his Freshman year of high school, they were surprisingly supportive for kids just turning into actual teenagers. They visited him in the hospital, and the mental health facility they sent him too, writing him letters when they couldn't make it. He felt like he was failing right now. He was worried he was backsliding into a terrible time in this life, and his little argument with Adam hadn't exactly helped. After putting on his shirt and some boxer briefs, he heard his phone ring, and saw his friend's name pop up.

“Speak of the devil.” _Or think of the devil, rather._ “Hello?”

“Hey, Kai.”

“What do you want?” Kai was trying not to be an asshole to the older male, but he was still upset with him from last night.

“Look,” Adam said sheepishly, “I'm sorry. I made a promise and I totally broke it. I was wrong, and...and I just wanted to apologize. If there's anything I can do to make it better...just tell me okay.” It was strange hearing his friend who was usually his total opposite socially, be so shy. He was usually the one that fumbled through all his sentences. It was easy to hear the sincerity, and as usual his brain ignored said sincerity. Still, Kai was going to try his best to let it go.

“Apology...apology accepted.” He heard Adam laugh over the line, a scowl making its way onto his face. “What's so funny?,” he snapped.

“I thought I told you not to lie to me. You really need to work on that. It's okay if you're still mad at me. I'm gonna do my best to fix it..., but I understand if it'll take some time.” Kai just sighed, irritated his emotions were adjusting missiles and aiming the artillery, his brain preparing to go to war with itself.

“So why'd you call?,” he said curtly, but without snapping.

“We just figured we could hangout and talk this whole thing over. Even if you just want to talk to Mira, then I understand.” Kai found himself dreading having to drag himself anywhere with how tired he was, but this was the only way to solve anything.

“Where and when?”

“Eleven thirty-ish. You already know where. We'll get this whole thing figured out, I promise. I'll meet you then.”

“Later,” Kai said simply, hanging up his phone, trying to psyche himself up to meet his friends face to face. The only thing that scared him more right now, looked like colors on the edge of his vision, in his dreams and real life.

Kai walked (more like shuffled) into their usual hangout spot, a local food place with a retro theme, and a name to match that he only vaguely recognized the reference to, he looked like the living dead. Or so he had already assumed, but had confirmed by the look of poorly subdued shock on his friends’ faces that he could see slightly obscured by godawful chrome that was pissing him off by reflecting light into his eyes. The stench of grease was making him nauseous, which was odd, because he had skipped breakfast, and normally loved the food here. He was fairly aware that he kept playing with the hem of his shirt and picking at the end of his sleeves. He was also pretty sure he no longer had any fingernails left to bite, and was could guess that all his other usual nervous tics were out in full force.

So much for playing it cool.

Fuck it, they wouldn't have believed him even if he had pulled it off perfectly after the dramatic presentation he had put on for Adam last night, and if Adam knows, Mira knew (and wasn't that just great?)

“Hey.” He gave a small wave, figuring he should just go through the motions at least. No need to make them think he was going to have a full, DEFCON 1 breakdown in public.

“Hey,” they both replied at the same time, after a noticeably large amount of hesitation. He could easily see their eyes darting back and forth, definitely in silent communication over how awful he looked. He took a seat next to Mira anyways, really in no mood to even be near Adam right now.

“So Adam and I were talking, and we were wondering if maybe we should go find a more private place to talk. I doubt we're going to be doing any actual celebrating now,” Mira said, inwardly cringing at what probably sounded like an obnoxious guilt trip, “and you look like you could use some fresh air.” That time it sounded like she was vaguely insulting him, and knew she wasn't just overthinking by the ‘what the hell?’ look Adam was giving her.

“Let's take a walk, buddy,” Adam supplied much less awkwardly. Kai just shrugged, thinking to himself that it would do his eyes some good to get away from this place before he tore one of the purposefully gaudy decorations off the wall in annoyance.

As soon as they got to the park where they were going, Kai surprised himself, and definitely his two companions, by practically jumping in front of the two. He found himself with his index finger dug into Adam's chest, almost rabidly, and loudly insisting, “I'm not crazy!,” because that certainly just **_screamed_** _mentally stable._

“Kai, nobody is saying you're crazy,” Adam insisted, gently grabbing Kai's wrist and settling it back down by the other teen's side.

“Definitely’” Mira started, then paused, pretty sure Kai wouldn't like where this was going next, “just maybe...mistaken.” If that wasn't just the biggest load of bullshit Kai had ever heard, then he didn't know what was. They thought he was crazy alright, they were just hoping to convince him of how crazy he was being, and hoped he would play along. Well he wouldn't be, because he might be cowardly, or gullible, but he was not crazy.

“I know what I saw. You're not going to unmake up my mind, so either just admit you think I'm crazy, or help me.” They didn't realize. They didn't know how damn stressful it was to be alone in this, and they sure as hell didn't know how awful it felt to have your two closest (only) friends doubt you. To make it feel like the trust you gave them, talking about something very frightening. Or trusting them with something only they, his doctors, and parents knew. It felt like they were taking his trust, breaking it, then rubbing his nose in it. He pinched the bridge of his nose, because he was trying to keep another headache from coming on.

Once he could think straight, he had to remind himself that they had been supportive. They hopefully didn't think he was just being dramatic because he has an anxiety disorder.

“Help you how, Kai? I'm not even sure what we could do if you were right,” Adam offered as an olive branch. Before he knew it, Adam could feel himself spinning, catching Mira with an amused smirk, and seeing a shaggy head of hair just on the edge of his vision.  
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!,” Kai said excitedly, while Adam found himself thankful his darker skin made it harder to see the pink dusting his cheeks.  
"Y-yeah. No problem.”

“I managed to come up with an idea or two at least, once I gave up on sleeping.” Kai said, finding himself being pulled by his wrist to a sitting position on a bench he must've not seen his friends stop at (actually, he didn't even really remember walking any further from swinging Adam around.)

“Okay, that's a start,” Mira said, happy to have something to work with where she wouldn't have to upset the boy stuck between her and Adam any further.

“So I thought about it, and realized it couldn't all be a simulation. It'd be too expansive. The quest in The Hollow is a huge feat. We're talking a computer the size of a small room to run this thing, but even then, it was fairly linear. They made most of it seem like a choice, and it was for the most part, but when they needed to reload a new area, in pops a Horseman to carry you to Death, or these hellhounds to force you to call for help.” Both of his compatriots could tell Kai was at least within his area of expertise here, and he was making a lot of sense so far for a crazy person.

There was definitely also a sense of relief at seeing the old Kai, gesturing animatedly with his hands, and both his friends felt a pang of remorse for how they must've been effecting Kai. He had never been a good loner, and being doubted by his very close (and very few) friends on something this stressful to him, must've been hell on the guy.

“Imagine the kind of processing power you'd need to emulate the entire world. They couldn't restrict us the same way here, as they could back there. If my family went on vacation to a different country, they'd have to animate the entire trip there. It'd be impossible. I was thinking, that what if the goal wasn't to have us in another simulation. What if it was something else? I just can't think of what.” Kai could tell that they no longer thought he was _completely_ crazy, that he at least might've saw something. They were just running into the same problem he was. What would make him see that glitch, and what would be the point in whatever was done to him?

“So what you saw probably wasn't fake. We just need to figure out how and why?,” Adam pondered aloud, rubbing his hands together without thinking about it.

“Ugh. This is a company with technology to wipe memories though, and enough money to come up with tech we've never even heard of,” Mira moaned, leaning her head back to let out a sigh.

“Hey, so I'm finally hungry again, and I skipped breakfast. Do you think we could head back to the diner?,” Kai questioned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. Eventually, he decided to beg palms together, as if in prayer. Both Adam and Mira were just thankful that the boy who could normally eat a horse (and then some) in one sitting had his appetite back nodded back gladly.

They could see the sign in smooth, red cursive letters reading ‘The Breakfast Club’ overhead as they reached their destination, and see waitresses in a uniform of a simple old school dress and apron deftly weaving past customers and each other.

They sat down in a booth, Kai looking better already, but still sleepy, taking a power nap against Adam's muscular shoulder. It appeared that Kai had silently forgiven the other boy, at least some, Adam still feeling like a jackass for how he had treated him last night. Adam seemed very pleased with this arrangement, and the amused smirk was back on Mira's face, probably because he had let his feelings for the boy gently resting by his side slip to Mira aways back. He could definitely say he was happy about a long wait for a waitress for the first time in his life, both so Kai could get some much needed rest, and because he definitely wasn't opposed to him finding said rest gently curled up by his side.

Eventually, Adam had to let Kai go, and thankfully, he was looking much better, even with just 30 minutes of sleep. Slowly waking up, Kai ordered last. A cheeseburger with a fried egg on top, some fries, and a giant milkshake seemed about right. Both of his friends knew that that wouldn't be the last of the food either. “Kai, you're going to have a heart attack when you're twenty,” Mira spoke confidently.

“Yeah, dude, I don't want, or need, you halfway to a coronary at sixteen,” Adam piped up.

“Oh shush, I'll be fine. I'm starving, so I'm supposed to eat anyways.” Kai was enjoying his meal quite a bit, judging by how he was wolfing down his food. The only reason no one would try to stop him from eating more was because he hadn't eaten in over almost thirty six hours.

“I guess that's true,” Adam said with a sigh.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could also see Mira eating slowly. He was 98% sure that she was trying to solve the puzzle of why Kai was seeing the glitching. She probably wasn't mentioning it to give Kai time to eat (and to get some rest from thinking about it.)

Well, she is good at puzzles.


	3. Straight Cuts Stack So Well

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kai's life starts to spiral out of control, until one day he finds out how to stop it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's self-harm described in this chapter, but it's not gory or anything. The short summary pretty much covers the rest without spoiling anything. Also, I figured the last chapter would be my super long one, but it seems like I just wrote a short introduction. This one is also nearly double the length of the first chapter, and even longer than the last one.

If Mira was good at puzzles, Kai was good at eating. He ended up ordering chocolate milk and pancakes after his initial meal, then splitting a huge slice of cake, and a rootbeer float with the rest of his party.

“I need a minute,” Kai said, unbuttoning his pants, putting a hand on his stomach, and leaning back. Adam rolled his eyes at his friend, but also chuckled, keeping a small smile.

“I'm not doing CPR when you fall over,” Mira said, mirroring Adam's smile.

“I just...need...to rest,” Kai huffed out, leaning onto the other boy in his seat. Eventually, Kai managed to rise, with some definite help from the stronger male sitting next to him. Grabbing the darker skinned hand held out to him, he was ready to walk it off.

They headed outside slowly, Kai hobbling behind until he found a muscular arm wrapped around his shoulders. He leaned into the other boy, using him as a crutch.

Adam couldn't say he didn't enjoy the touch that he had been recieving quite a bit lately. He didn't really know what to do with it, but hell if he didn't like it.

Light brown hair tinted with red covered Kai's face, making it hard to not rely on the other boy holding him to guide him. He was getting close (closer?) to being able to walk by himself, but with how awful this whole clusterfuck had been, how could he find someone to lean on.

He was starting to wonder though, even though he was clueless with this shit, if he could still be called his friend.

He was beginning to notice the way Adam looked at him. Liked to touch him “innocently,” when Kai let him.

Noticed the sly smile Mira would wear whenever Adam made contact with the fair skinned boy.

Still, this could all be wishful thinking, if he could even get his feelings straight. He was already getting shit from bullies just from generally being a nerdy virgin, some weirdo loser. He didn't need to add “faggot fairy princess” to his list. Or what if he wrecked his friendship telling Adam about his feelings.

  
Fuck, this wasn't what he needed to be thinking about right now. _**Couldn't he catch a goddamn break?**_ He could feel his face heating up, meaning it was probably turning bright red.

 _What the fuck ever._ His stomach had settled down, so it was time to drop the bombshell.

“Guys, I think...I think they did something to me,” Kai managed to get out.

“It's a definite possibility, but what do you think they did?,” Mira questioned, still puzzling out several theories.

“I think they did something while we were out, then did the memory wipe to be safe. It's like I can't remember certain parts of the initial startup. I can't seem to think certain thoughts about The Hollow's company. It's like VisualEffectsXperts is off limits to my brain. I think the only reasion I caught that glitch...those glitches, was because I had already been looking for them in the game. I don't know what to think, what's happening, or what to do. I need your help. Just help. Please, h-help.”

Kai couldn't seem to stop rambling. Couldn't stop _spewing his guts out_ to them.

“Are you still seeing them?,” Adam asked quietly, looking around even though they were all alone.

“Y-yeah. They're random. They seem to happen about once every hour though. Most of the time just on the edge of my vision.”

“So when's the last time you saw one?,” Mira asked inquisitively.

“On the walk over. I passed this guy on the sidewalk. He was walking his dog, and when I asked if I could pet it, he said yes. Once I was done, I looked up, and could swear his owner's eye was...y'know...”

After they discussed it, he made his way home, and dropped himself into his computer chair. He grabbed an empty journal and started writing any theory that popped into his head, and ordered them from most to least insane.

On Monday, he was glad to get back to some semblance of a normal day. Classes went by like normal, even if he caught at least two glitches that day. Wednesday, halfway through the day, three of his regular bullies had snuck up on him. 

He had been distracted retrieving binders and textbooks for his next class with his head in his locker. As he turned around, his shitty sleep lately, and the stress of this whole glitch thing finally got to him. Instead of his usual (both metaphorical and literal) crying and whimpering for Adam that usual kept him silent went away. He turned to them, and aggressively hissed, “fuck off assholes, I'm not in the mood.”

“Oh look, the little fairy princess isn't crying for his little faggot boyfriend for once,” one of his bullies said mockingly. All at once Kai felt like a complete idiot.

As they surrounded him, another one of them knocked his textbooks out of his hands while he backed up into his closed locker.

“Please, stop,” Kai pleaded. His badass energy dissipated quickly, as he prayed for Adam to arrive soon.

“What happened tough guy? Is the little queer gonna cry?,” bully number three questioned. Kai considered just running to the safety of his class, but he knew if he left his stuff behind, he might never find it again. Or if he got lucky enough to get it back, it'd be destroyed and vandalized. All he could do was hope he had some kind of magical telepathic powers he never knew about until now. Instead, he felt himself recieve what would probably be a black eye later, and found himself doubled over from a punch to the gut. He didn't mean to cry, and he hated that he could never keep his stupid tears in his eyes where they belonged. 

They laughed and taunted about that one, loving seeing the _ **pathetic, little queer bawl his eyes out**_ , as he raised his hands to block at least some of the blows. He heard that voice he had been cowardly simpering for, and screaming for in his head.

“Get off of him!” He heard people yelling in pain, and they definitely weren't coming from his friend. He was so happy that if the bullies had been able to get away with this scott free, so would his savior. “That's right! Crawl away you little bastards! If I see you again, I'll break every bone in your body!,” Adam threatened from his spot next to the battered boy crying curled up in the fetal position, covering his head and his ribs. His protector leaned down next to him, pushing his school books to the side, and gently moved his hands away to check the damage. His face was bleeding from his nose, and a bit from his split lip.

Still, the younger teen was begging him not to hurt him. Kai heard Adam sigh, mutter murder slow and bloody against his attackers, then gingerly pet his hair. “It's just me, Kai, it's gonna be okay. You're safe now,” he promised the bloody, crying mess clinging to him.

“Please, no more, just do whatever you want. Just no more.” He was in his his own little world, one where the torture still continued, not paying attention to the hands that softly lifted him into his arms, holding him (somewhat) bridal style. Not noticing himself weeping into the broad chest of the silent guardian guiding him to safety, his skinny body resting quietly, his arms wrapped around the other boy's neck.

Kai finally was able to pay attention to his surroundings enough to realize they were just outside the nurse's office he frequented regularly. They made their way inside, the nurse giving him the usual sympathetic look, as she busied herself writing Adam a pass for his class and calling his mother to come pick him up from school.. God, he's so pathetic. He knew he must look even more pathetic than he felt. He did his best to smile up at Adam, who was giving him a sad and worried look. The other male checked that the nurse had left, and took his time lifting up Kai's shirt, frowning at the additional injuries he must've seen there. “I'm okay, Adam,” he said, as the other boy gingerly covered the injured boy back up.

“Kai...” It was obvious to anyone who wasn't legally blind how very _not okay_ he was, but he had always been stubborn like that. There wasn't much point in trying to fight him on that. “That may be, but I'm still gonna visit you later today, just to check up on you,” Adam said quietly, but firmly. Both boys went to their individual destinations, at least once Adam had watched and made sure Kai was properly bandaged. He also grabbed Kai's fallen school supplies and managed to shove them back into his messy locker.

As Adam made it through the rest of his day, he managed to inform Mira of his friend's condition. She was worried, but sadly unsurprised. She was glad that someone would be able to check on him later that day. He just laid his head against the cool window of the school bus, watching the changing leaves, and later rose to exit at Kai's stop. 

He made his way to the house with the mailbox that said O'Reilly. Knocking on the door was more of a formality than a necessity at this point, but he wanted to make a good impression in case they ever really did become a couple.

A red headed woman with abundant freckles answered the door, showing very obviously where Kai got his similar features, red in his hair, and the cute freckles. “Hi, Mrs. O'Reilly, good to see you,” Adam said entering the house as she quickly returned to washing dishes.

“Oh, how many times have I told you to call me Clara?,” she said giving him a motherly smile. “Well, I wish you were here under better circumstances. Kai's laid up in his room, although I can't speak for how awake he'll be. They sure got him good this time. Thank you for protecting my son the best you can...,” she said with her smile fading a bit.

  
“I just wish I could've gotten there sooner.” Adam looked down guiltily, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Nonsense,” she said waving him off. “All I, or anyone, could ever ask is that you be a good friend to him. Never that it’s your job to protect him 24/7.”

“I know. It's just hard seeing him that way.” She just nodded to him, and motioned upstairs when they heard Kai groaning. He nodded back and hurried his way upstairs, making his way into Kai's room after knocking quickly. He set his backpack down by the entrance to his room. Hearing a moan, he made his way over towards the pile of blankets on his friend's bed. “Kai? Are you okay?”

The lump of blankets turned towards him in surprise, blinking his eyes rapidly, then yawning. Ugh, Adam caught him sleeping, he hoped he hadn't let anything slip about his dreams. Although the frightened look on his face, as he stretched and rubbed his eyes must've given away enough. Adam was frowning at him, approaching slowly, probably assuming approaching him at anything faster would set him off. “You can just walk over, y'know? I'm not some scared little animal that needs you to tiptoe over to him like he's gonna bolt,” he said snippily. He regretted immediately after he said it, the hurt look on Adam's face hitting him deep. The boy who had just saved him earlier that day. He knew it wouldn't be enough, but he quietly apologized. “I'm sorry, Adam. I've just been having nightmares, and it feels like I broke a rib.”

Adam just nodded silently, respecting his wishes, approaching at a normal pace. “Can I see?,” Adam questioned. Kai just pushed his blankets down to his waist, ignoring the blush creeping up his face and the exposed bit of his abdomen shown by his lifted shirt. He felt the more muscular boy gently lift his chin with one hand, tracing the bruise around his eye, then rubbing his thumb down his split lip. He could also _swear_ that he saw Adam admiring his freckles that grew near the bridge of his nose, while he was making sure it wasn't broken. 

Finally, it came time for Adam to check his torso. As the other boy hooked a finger under his shirt and raised it slowly, with a serious concentration on his face, he could feel his ears turning pink. He imagined his face must be a dark shade of crimson as he felt it heat up, as his friend and caretaker gently traced his ribs, and softly rubbed the bruises on his belly. He also felt, but couldn't see over his lifted shirt, his fingers running over his prominent sternum. Slowly the blood in his face went back to normal as Adam finished assessing everything as “fucked up, but not hospital fucked up.”

“How are you feeling...emotionally that is?,” Adam asked curiously, lying next to Kai who had made room for him on his bed, both of them just staring at the ceiling. How he was feeling physically was a bit too obvious, even if it was just a small talk type of question.

“Like those bullies are right. How I have to beg for you to protect me. How I'm just a nerdy virgin who can't do anything right. How I really do deserve this. Like an insane weirdo, who can't tell what's real and what's fake anymore. That's just the half of it.” Kai swept his hair back with one hand, the other resting behind his head, then sighed tiredly. Not physically tired of course, just exhausted from this routine. Feeling like a sorry mess, and lately, a crazy mess. He wasn't this strong, strong enough to keep up with his old life and his new one, checking for visual distortions like a paranoid psycho. Dodging punches and kicks, rather poorly at that, at the same time. He started having bad thoughts again. Thoughts that never disappeared forever, but never stuck around this long. Like he'd be better off if he was dead. If he had just never been born. Those never lead anywhere good, but there was no getting rid of them, even though all it used to take was a visit from Adam, they were still there. 

He still had to try and sleep of course, and would eventually give up tonight. Pumping himself full of Monster and Mountain Dew at night (sometimes sneaking an occasional cigarette or two), coffee in the morning. Some midday Red Bull, rinse and repeat.

Adam turned on his side, staring at his friend, not really caring about how his actions would be interpreted later, or so Kai assumed from his determined face. He gently swept Kai's hair out of his face, looking very much like he wanted to kiss him, but maybe he didn't, or maybe he was just as scared as Kai to push it. “Shut up!” _That was unexpected._ “Don't you _ever_ , **_ever_** talk like that again, or I'll shut you up myself!,” Adam yelled, his hands gripping Kai's face just enough to hold him still, looking into his eyes with a stare letting him know how very serious he was. “You're none of those things! Just because bad things have happened to you in the past, doesn't mean I'm going to let you get away with you talking down about yourself. Don't you try and turn away from me. Look at me. If those are true, I guess it doesn't really matter does it, since both me and Mira love and care about you. So does it really matter to you?”

All Kai could do was shake his head.  
The rest of the week passed without incident, and he finally got to show his friends his journal that Friday afternoon, at the same park as the first time. They seemed to frown at the crazier theories, but him and Mira were able to make some good out of it. Enough that Adam was able to offer some useful input. Still when Kai started talking about how he was feeling inside, how we felt well and truly tired and living, he saw them, how they felt about that.

They were giving him that look. **That look _he fucking hates._** _Pity in their eyes._ Goddamn pity. He'd flipped the boat. Even though they might believe him, they wouldn't think it'd be a “good idea to discuss this" with him. Which was code for crazy Kai, with his little pills, his anxiety, his depression, needed to be coddled. He'd ruined his chance to come off like he could handle it. They actually changed the subject to small talk, but he could see it. He was doing so well, but he finally broke down. He headed home with his head hanging down, not caring to look both ways crossing the street. 

Honestly, he wouldn't mind a car hitting him about now, so he could avoid his friends forever.

At home, he tried to act normal, picking at his dinner just enough to hope he wasn't worrying his parents. That night though, he had a test he wanted to preform. When he got upstairs, he dug through the extra room where they had old arts and crafts stuff. He found what he was looking for in a cardboard box, touching the tip to see if it had kept its edge. When he was satisfied the X-acto knife was still in working order, he brought it into his room. Thank God it was Fall. He could wear long sleeves in peace.

Once he had closed his door, made sure his parents were asleep, and walked to his hiding spot in his dark wooden dresser, he laid down on his bed. He had put a dark towel under his arm, and tightened a belt buckle around his thin arm. He hoped he didn't bleed too much. 

He knew. He knew how pain felt in The Hollow, and how it felt in real life. In The Hollow, it was like getting hurt in a dream. This split-second pain that seemed hard to remember happening minutes later. It was an easy and simple test. He slowly, almost gently, dragged the blade across his skin.

He was surprised how good that it still felt good after all this time (he had stopped cutting when he finally got treatment), and ignoring that side effect,  he was relieved this was real life. He knew the chance was almost impossible that he was still in, but ‘better safe, than sorry' had always been his motto.

He wiped off his skin with the dark towel, and slid the blade against it also, gently enough to not cut the fabric, hard enough to clean it. He threw the splotchy towel in the hamper the next day, after taking a shower.

Just pretending to use two towels was easy, and he was able to wring out some of the blood. He tied a bandage around it post-shower without a care in the world. He was protecting his friends. _Wasn't he?_

When he got back to school, his friends started treating him different, _**of course.**_ They didn't talk about The Hollow as much anymore. They almost completely stopped questioning what the hell VEX was up to despite Kai's wishes. They started treating Kai like he was going to snap. Like he's broken porcelain that they wanted to keep from shattering anymore. Then they would give him _the fucking look._ **Pity**. They decided Kai needed pity, and hell if it didn't drive him up the goddamn wall.

Still, everyday, another straight cut, stacked so well. Even if they were pissing him off, he did it all for them. He made sure every day that they weren't in a simulation. But one day, ( _ **fuck my life**_ ) Adam saw one of the cuts. At first he wanted to just kiss it and make it better (not literally, of course), but then he saw another that was suspiciously perfectly horizontal to the first cut. He yanked the left sleeve up before Kai could stop him.

There it went from there.

Mira freaked the fuck out. Adam got angry at him. He tried explaining himself, but no one would listen. Why didn't they understand he was doing this for them? To protect them.  


From then on he was basically on improvised suicide watch. Adam started sleeping over more. Mira would check his arm every day at lunch time. He cut when he could, but he'd never seen those two so upset in his life. Not even the first time around.

Kai couldn't handle it anymore, but he had no way to stop them, to prove his intentions.

Until one day, weeks later, he saw it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really have anything to say, other than I hoped you enjoyed this one, and to drop me a comment even if you didn't. I didn't edit this one much, and I edited the last one a ton. So let's see how the difference turns out.
> 
> Also, the story is continuing, but I'm having to whip my muse into shape now, since it's no longer effortlessly flying off the page anymore. I'm close to releasing the next chapter though.


	4. What's Old is New, If You Find It In Your Arm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kai gets some research done, and finally finds some proof everything isn't as it seems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this one is definitely unedited, and feels a bit like two chapters shoved together. I think it does well enough though, and I hope readers still exist for this.

Kai found himself sitting with another energy drink and a cigarette behind his ear. He searched everything he could on the internet. Old forums, news articles, even the official website for VEX and promotions for The Hollow. The occasional glitch appeared in his peripheral vision, but he did his best to ignore it.

Finishing the last of his Monster, he copied the links from his computer onto his phone. He opened his window and proceeded to set up his usual spot on the roof. He just needed time to think, and he definitely needed the crumpled pack of Camels stuck in his computer drawer.

As he lit a cigarette he pulled from behind his ear, he suddenly remembered it'd be a good idea to close his window behind him. He's sure his parents would be _unenthused_ , to say the least to discover him smoking, but even worse would be having to deal with more people worrying over him, since most normal teenagers weren't awake right before dawn on the weekend.

At least it was beautiful outside. Beautiful and **calm** , unlike how his head was still full of a thinking pattern that resembled the flow of a broken carousel.

He shook his head, and maintained his ability to think with that motion that got him out of his head some. Sighing, he stared up, legs facing front, his upper body resting on his elbows.

The waning moon was only lit three-fourths of the way this time, no longer outshining the orange light that showed his features in shadows.

After a few drags and a deep, unnecessarily long sigh of frustration that made him resemble a broken fog machine, he checked out his phone, and pulled up the sites he was checking inside. As his screen whirred to life, his face could be seen clearly, bathed in electronic light. The screen even stayed clear with smoke floating over the glass, the cold causing it to condense. For some reason it entertained and calmed him enough that he started doing it on purpose.

Finding research that he hadn't seen before under a mask of smoke, he became excited that he had made some kind of progress. This thing was going to require some footwork though, and probably the help of his friends. Whether or not they would come with was up in the air though.

If he went anyways, they would almost definitely feel obliged to follow. It hurt to have to manipulate them just so that they would do something they probably would've before he had turned into some paranoid psycho in their eyes.

In truth, that they saw him that way now barely managed to beat out pity for how much it got to him. He honestly needed to sit down with them and have a blunt talk with them about that. Any conflict scared him to death though ( _as long as he was in his right mind_ ), no matter how necessary it was. It was going to call for some unpleasant measures to gain the courage to do what was required. It needed to be done though, and he decided this weekend wasn't a terrible time to do it.

He just prayed that they might not notice how he managed to man up and finally get this done. All he could think as Saturday morning rolled around (Saturday morning for normal people at least, not weirdos who catch naps on top of buildings) was:  
_**Here goes nothing.**_

Holding his phone against his shoulder, as he waited for Adam to pick up, he dug out his bottles of Valium and Xanax and shoved one in each pocket. Right before he heard Adam's voice he dry swallowed his morning dose of Zoloft _**(which tasted disgusting)**_ , then made his way to his room.

  
“Hey, what's up?,” he heard Adam say, with an unintelligible noise in the background that was clearly his older brother.

“I was just wondering if you and Mira could come by,” Kai said casually, throwing the drugs on his bed, and quietly made his way to the kitchen for some coffee he had made earlier and never gotten too.

“Yeah, no problem. When do you want us to stop by?”  
Heading into his room with a cup of coffee drowned with milk and sugar he had reheated in the microwave, he thought about when he'd be ready for this.

Sitting down on his bed, propped up by pillows, he took a sip of coffee, then responded, “Just give me like 2 hours to shower and eat breakfast.”

“We'll be there. I'll let you go, since I've to call Mira anyways. See you soon.”

“Take your time, I'll see you later.” Kai cleared his phone screen, having ended the call, and possibly needing it soon. Slowly, he doled out 3 times his usual dose of Valium, laying it in a row in front of him, then swallowing it with a drink of coffee. Next, he did the same with his Xanax, only taking double instead though, lest he blackout. He knew the coffee would counteract the tiredness enough, but even caffeine couldn't stop him from forgetting his entire day if he overdid it.

As time approached for his companions to show up, he began to feel a bit sedated, and felt all the anxiety and stress leave his body. He found himself no longer dreading the meeting with friends, which was good, because he heard a notification from his phone telling him to open the door (in lieu of knocking, wanting his parents to be able to sleep in, even if he couldn't.)

He stepped down the stairs quietly, skipping the 10th and 2nd steps, a habit he developed long ago to avoid their creaking. Slowly opening the door, he could see Adam look away from him, his face turning red. He raised an eyebrow, confused, until Mira cleared her throat and gave him _a look._

Following her eyes, he saw that he had forgotten to put a shirt on after his shower, sitting there in only a pair of pajama pants. “Like what you see?,” he teased Adam, whose face was doing its best imitation of a tomato. He definitely noticed Mira's smirk this time, and the other boy's eyes drifting over his skinny, pale chest (although he was curious what there was to look at, besides some bruises and his prominent ribs.)

He gave his own smirk as he waved them inside, and wondered if the hard time he gave Adam was the drugs talking. He was never brave enough normally to tease Adam like that. He figured he'd cut Adam some slack and cover his chest.

Digging in his closet, he heard footsteps and people settling in their usual spots. Adam looked relieved, until Mira whispered something in his ear and elbowed him in his side. Kai watched him whisper back fiercely, while Mira just shrugged and kept a smug smile on her face.

_**He didn't even want to know what they were talking about.** _

He just sat on the floor across from them with a tablet he was doodling on earlier, killing time, but now using it more so they couldn't see his face completely ~~**if**~~ **once**   things got awkward. With him, they always got awkward. “So. . .,” he fidgeted with his hands for a second before he caught his momentum again, “I mainly called and wanted to talk to you guys today, because we've been having some...uh...interpersonal issues lately. It's been making me very upset...more than upset, angry, and you guys know I don't get upset easily, but it's not...i-it's not _**-not okay-**_ and I don't like feeling this way. I don't like being mad at you guys, and I don't like how you're making me feel, so we've gotta do something about this.”

He could see Adam give him a confused look, while Mira wouldn't look him in the eye, guilt etched on her face.

Not that he thought she had done anything worse than Adam, but she just seemed more aware, maybe because she was a girl, or Adam was being a bit emotionally oblivious, he couldn't say either way. “Can someone explain? I feel like I'm being left out of something here.”

“Adam you've been treating me like a crazy person lately. Like I don't know what's good for me. Like I'm so insane that I need you two to decide what I can handle. Like I-,” he felt Adam reach over to his left arm and turn it over, before shoving it in his face.

“And maybe I was doing the right thing, okay?! Even if it sucks for you, you think this is okay?! Because you sure thought it was whenever you were butchering your arm so badly that people would think it was a hobby! You must've known how wrong what you were doing was too if you weren't man enough to not hide it, like a little kid who wet the be-.” Adam felt himself land on his back, and it took him a minute to figure out how that had even happened. It became rather obvious though whenever he felt Kai give him an open palm slap every few seconds to punctuate whatever he was trying to yell.

“What would you know you egotistical bastard?! Mira has at least enough human emotions to feel bad about it! Plus, you want to act like you care then say what you just did to me?! Is that what we're doing?! Fine then, let me teach you in the only way you seem to understand anything, although I sometimes doubt you're even that smart since-.” Kai felt himself being shoved hard off of one friend, while the other was yelling at both of them to knock it off. She didn't seem quite sure what to do about situation, since something like this hadn't happened in almost half a decade.

They had grown _**a bit**_ too, so trying to separate them was not as easy as it once was. More than that, she was worried one of them was going to say something they couldn't take back.

“Hey! Cut it out!,” Mira yelled, trying very hard to pry Kai out of a headlock, and then recognizing how easy he could probably handle his bullies one-on-one if violence was in his nature, whenever she felt him be released easily, after throwing an elbow back into the other idiot's ribs, “I swear to God, if both of you don't stop right now, I'm gonna make both of you regret it.” She let out an exasperated groan when she saw Adam reach out and grab Kai's leg to drag him back, deciding to just pull him away for now, hoping her other friend kept himself under control and let his crush go, unless he wanted to end up fighting both of them.

Mira had apparently made the incorrect assumption that once they were physically separated that they would calm down. Since all she caught was a lot of curses and insults being thrown around, but only in bits and pieces with the two morons shouting over each other. They would probably be back to hitting each other if she wasn't stuck between them. Although, they thankfully appeared to be calming down, both eventually looking embarrassed.

She asked to be safe though, “so I'm wondering, if I sit back down, can I trust you dummies to control yourselves?” They both silently nodded, and she allowed herself to cautiously take a seat.

“I'm sorry, Mira,” she gave him a strange look, and Adam knew that she's not the one who required an apology right now. “And Kai, I didn't mean any of that, if I...when I hurt your feelings, you shouldn't have had to deal with that. I'm sorry.”

“It's okay. I wasn't exactly nice about it either. I'm sorry if I hurt you, in any way.” Kai stuck out his bony arm, all 5 long fingers on his hand pointing at the other boy. Adam looked at it for a long while, deep in thought, eventually reaching out and wrapping his own hand around the one attached to earlier fellow combatant. “Truce?”

“Truce,” Adam agreed, shaking his hand.  
After Mira had said her own apology, with much less violence and emotional coercion, Kai was finally able to start sharing what he had learned the night before and his time to himself before sunrise.

Later, after they left, Kai was a bit distracted trying to figure out what was causing the glitching. He finally even went to check Simulation Induction & Neurology, and looking over research from Science and New Development. He found himself too fearful of VEX to get involved in competing businesses for now. He just did his best to find an exploit and backdoor into the newest series of events in The Hollow's future.

It was fun to use his hacking skills again, and he could make more educated guesses about his predicament.

Or so he thought. His most recent move was going to blindside him, even if it was probably planned long ago by VEX.

_**There was a strange mark on his wrist.** _

_**This certainly**_ wasn't something he would've predicted, even with all his knowledge.

**So much for preparedness.**

Kai couldn't for the life of him figure out what it was. It was small, and vertical, so it wasn't his own doing. He wasn't positive he wasn't just turning into a paranoid insomniac from all the caffeine, and lack of sleep he'd been having.

Maybe his friends had been right about his state of mind right now. He'd have to take a chance on it though.

He hopped on his computer and searched for surgical techniques. If he was going to do this, he'd definitely have to do it right. Cutting an artery, or nicking a nerve wasn't an option. He had a window for a close-up of the anatomy of an arm side-by-side with a video of a surgical removal of a piece of shrapnel from a car bomb. So he had to cut the skin in an X shape.

He grabbed more towels than he had even had before, and the feeling of a familiarity of the same buckle resting against his blood vessels he had used for the same arm before, and bandages that he knew he was gonna have to wrap tight ( _and won't that be fun?_ ), after applying super glue, having learned it was used to close wounds in the Vietnam War about 60 years back.

He was ready to play surgeon finally.

He grabbed a black Sharpie from his desk that he normally used to copy and annotate schematics. He marked the exact spot, then drew 4 lines diagonal and adjacent to each other.

**_Here goes nothing._ **

He had to cut **deep.** He saw little white granules that he didn't recognize, looking at his anatomical model though, he realized he had hit a layer of fat. He ground his jaw harder, feeling a pain like he'd never had before. He shoved his marker in his mouth and bit down. Just _a little further._ Just a **little further. _Just a little bit further._** There was a small chip that he could see the top of. He grabbed some sharp tweezers he had just in case he wasn't insane. He let out a small whimper from digging around in his arm.

But he did it. He could see a transistor, after finding a few other parts he searched for online, it turned out to be a...tracking device? What the hell? That couldn't have caused the glitches he saw, but now he knew he wasn't just some lunatic butchering his arm.

He had to call someone, anyone, just to see the damn thing in person. Wait...a picture, he could get a picture of it. He ran to his phone, and snapped a picture of the thing lying in his hand. Still, he dialed Adam's number by memory. When it finally connected, he ignored the greeting.

“Dude, there's a fucking tracking device in my arm. Get over here right away, you have to see this.” Adam sped over as fast as he could, but not because he was worried about some alleged tracking device in Kai’s arm. He was almost positive that the insomnia had gotten to him finally.

It was a little past midnight, so Adam found himself climbing up a fence they had both used to get up on the roof when they were younger. Kai was already at his window, pulling him inside.

It was real. Well, so was the large wound in Kai's forearm. Adam basically pushed Kai into the towels that he set aside, and attempted to apply pressure to his (self) injury. It wasn't bleeding properly, and Adam finally noticed the makeshift tourniquet on the skinnier boy's arm.

“Don't worry about it,” Kai waved off a bit drunkenly, having lost more blood than he thought.

Adam unconsciously growled, frustrated with Kai. The boy himself though just held out some kind of gore covered computer chip.

Even though he had to wrestle the blade from Kai, who was waving it around loosely, while swallowing the vomit wanting to rise up his throat, it was making him curious. The dark skin turning as pale as it could on his reflection in Kai's window probably wasn't a good sign though.

This moron was going to give him a brain aneurysm one day.

First things first though, he set the chip aside on the other teen’s nightstand. “Kai, what were you thinking?! Surgery isn't usually a stay at home project.” Adam was furious, because right now he needed to be to stay logical.

“I was right though! I was right to be worried. They did something to me, because I know my mom's not part cyborg, so I wasn't exactly born with circutry in my arm.” Kai was becoming very frustrated with his friend. He wasn't exactly being a big help right now.

“Oh, forgive me, I forgot that it was normal to play ghetto doctor in the middle of the night! I'm sure nothing could've gone wrong with that!”

“Shut the hell up and hand me that other towel! I don't want blood stains on my bed, and this one's starting to get soaked.” Kai jerked the towel out of Adam's hand and glared at him, although he wasn't doing a great job of being intimidating with the glassy sheen coming over his eyes from blood loss. It wasn't do or die right now, but it was becoming an issue. He couldn't go to a hospital though, because then he really would be thrown into a psych ward.

He had the other boy, who was looking a bit queasy, find a second belt to further stem any blood flow, while he kept pressure with his towel. “Tighten it as hard as you can,” Kai ordered, glad that it was an old belt from when he was younger. He didn't realize quite how skinny his arm was until he started needing a tourniquet regularly, and hadn't been able to find any of his smaller ones.

“Sorry if I play hooky tomorrow by the way.”  
All Adam could do was roll his eyes. Even if he had become a lot different lately, he was glad to see that the old Kai was still in there.

“I really don't think that's our biggest worry right now...and I don't even know how I'm going to _begin_ explaining this to Mira tomorrow. I guess I'll let her know about the chip though, since that's a big clue in this whole...I really don't even know what to call it.”

“Clusterfuck? That's what I've been using when I'm by myself.”

“Sure,” Adam said with an amused snort, “that definitely works.” Well, after school tomorrow, he definitely had his work cut out for him. He gingerly wrapped Kai's arm, thinking about this whole ‘clusterfuck’ as he wound bandages as carefully as he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you think, as usual, since this was a new style for both me and the story.
> 
> The new chapter might come faster by the way, depending on if I still have readers to bother with it for.


	5. Taking It IRL

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kai takes a break after the aftermath of his at home surgery. He still follows his leads though. Sorry for the cliffhanger, but just know next chapter is a lot more action packed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go. Now that people are commenting, I know I'm being read finally. I'm not a comment whore, but I feel weird posting with no readers.

“He found a tracking chip in his arm?” Mira was giving a look to where Kai was notably absent from the lunch table. Well, notably to her at least. Adam wasn't expecting his friend to be here after helping clean up the crime scene from last night.

  
“Yeah. I saw it with my own two eyes. I feel terrible about doubting him almost this whole time. I can't imagine going through all of that by myself, but that's what I made Kai do.” Mira was giving him a sympathetic look, hiding her face in her hands.

  
“We. What we made Kai do.” Lunch was a quiet affair after that, and both were anxious for the school day to just end already.

  
Kai was at home, using one of his magnifiers to check what the hell this chip did exactly. He hadn't really had more time than to do a cursory search last night. As he checked the inner workings of the small bit of electronics, his thoughts drifted. He wondered what exactly was causing the occasional glitching he still saw. He was beginning to think there might be more than one piece of circuitry in his body. He also was wondering what he would do about it even if he found out about it. He also needed to remember to still carry the chip around in his pocket or whatever.

  
God, that’s gonna be a pain in the ass.

  
Once he was done, he checked his watch, and was happy to note it was already 2. That meant that Adam and Mira would be over here in only about 2 hours. He spun his chair around and picked up his PlayStation controller, figuring he should try and not stress himself out so damn much.

All he'd been doing lately was ruminating on what was happening in one way or another. Searching online for clues, overthinking about every single interaction between himself and the producers running The Hollow, the ones he could think about at least. He still seemed unable to remember or think about certain specifics involving VEX, but he did his best to work around that. The other two-thirds of his friend group would be very useful for that.

  
Right now though, it was time to just shut off his brain.

  
As soon as the last bell rang, Adam sprinted to his locker, and ran outside to find Mira on the bus. She normally didn't ride, but had told her mom that she was going to hang out at Kai's house. Since Adam lived within walking distance of Kai, they rode the same bus, which made life a lot easier at the moment. When she made it on, he gave a small wave to catch her eye. He was eager to get to see his boy friend...or friend who was a boy,...because Mira was his friend,...but she's a girl... Even with Kai being the way he was lately, and stressing himself out worrying about him, that stupid little crush still seemed to be intact. Worst of all, it was starting to seem like more than just a stupid little crush lately.

  
Both friends were quiet on the ride there, but Mira thought Adam only seemed a bit broody, not nervous, so she had a decent guess of what he was thinking about. She figured it was best to leave it alone for now.

  
Kai heard his doorbell ring and rolled his eyes, thinking it was another delivery guy for all the garbage his parents seem to constantly order online. With only a pair of wireless headphones and pajama pants, he opened the door. Pausing to just kind of stare at his friends, he felt his face heat up.

He was pretty positive Adam liked him now at least, since his eyes instantly started flickering over his exposed chest. Even after exchanging slightly awkward introductions with Mira, whose eyes were more focused on the white fabric wrapped around his forearm, Adam still had his eyes glued to him. It was obvious enough that Mira elbowed him in the ribs, so that he would stop gaping, and say hi. “H-hi. It's good to see you.”

  
“I'll bet,” was all Kai said grinning, before walking upstairs chuckling. Mira laughed too, before passing Adam, who was standing stock still, looking completely mortified.

After finishing his turn doing his best impression of a tomato, he followed the other two upstairs.

  
When he made it to Kai's room finally, he only saw a flash of the boy's pale abdomen, before he had a worn Led Zeppelin t-shirt on. He didn't seem to care about wearing long sleeves until he had to finally see his parents. “Yeah, I looked it up, and checked it over. There's parts for a GPS attached there,” Kai answered Mira's question. One that Adam hadn't heard, only having heard a feminine voice when he had reached the top of the stairs, unable to make out the words. Kai's chair spun around, flashing him a cheeky grin, apparently not letting him forget the incident downstairs just yet. He felt his face flush again, but smiled back, happy to see Kai in better spirits than usual lately. He still looked like a raccoon, but it seemed like he had benefited from a break from school, since the rings had lightened up a bit. Not to mention he probably felt better no longer wondering if he was a lunatic, and wondering if his friends thought he was, or wasn't.

  
“Your arm doing better, Kai?,” Adam inquired with a raised eyebrow.

  
“Yeah. I found some old antibiotics and Vicodin in my parents bathroom. I figured I'd rather not get an infection, and that surgical stuff I read online says they use them preventatively in hospitals. Also, narcotic painkillers apparently really affect your mood. I feel great.” Kai must've seen the look Adam was giving him, because he replied to his unasked questions.

  
“And no, I'm only going to take the Vicodin while I'm healing. I could've done much worse, since there was some Percocet, Klonopin, and god knows what else in there. It was all old too, I think they just never throw this stuff away. They also take enough drugs to knock out a horse I guess.”

Adam held his hand out palm up, and felt Kai give him a bad attempt at a high-five (or is that a low-five?). He kept his hand outstretched until Kai set two plastic prescription bottles in his hand. “Want some?,” Kai asked jokingly, which made Adam punch him in the (good) arm. Once he checked them over and was satisfied, he handed them back to Kai, who hid them in a desk drawer, under one of his sketchbooks.

  
“You're such a mother-hen, Adam,” Mira said smiling. Apparently, today was ‘Embarrass Adam Day,’ he thought to himself grumpily, hearing Kai chuckle behind him. Closing the door behind him finally, he walked over next to Kai and fell down into a beanbag chair next to him.

  
“So, what do you think our next move should be, Kai?,” Adam asked, getting down to business.

  
“I was thinking...and I know you're not gonna like this...but in order for me to be seeing glitches, they'd have to have put something else in me. I need your help to find where they put it. To get the sources and specs to find a detailed idea about what they did...we have to break into VEX physically.” Kai sat there sinking under the looks.

  
“Kai, are you insane?!,” Adam interrogated loudly.

  
“Probably. Why do you ask?,” Kai replied casually.

  
Adam waved his hands around in frustration, trying to get Kai to see what a bad idea this is is probably impossible at this point. Of course he was kind of right, which made it even worse. “Do you have any idea what you're doing?,” Adam questioned softly.

  
“Of course. I hacked into what I could remotely. I have blueprints and schematics. I even bought a fake eye, a special one, on the internet, for the retinal scanners. Oh, we're gonna need pliers and garden sheers. No one realizes they can be used like bolt cutters, and they'll hardly be missed during the Winter.” Kai had finished explaining the complex process to his friend. One that involved the real world. Now he just had to see who would go along with it. He had hope now that his friends would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I got a good cliffhanger. You'll like the next chapter though. I hope it's worth the wait.


End file.
